


Navigatio

by romans



Category: Vikings (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-20
Updated: 2013-03-20
Packaged: 2017-12-05 22:46:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/728752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/romans/pseuds/romans
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He thinks of the monks in Ireland who set off in coracles to learn where God and His currents would take them. Is he supposed to surrender himself to the will of God and let the northmen take him over the sea? Is that why he was spared?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Navigatio

**Author's Note:**

> Just a ficlet I dashed off in a fit of medievalist feels.

There are fourteen of his brothers on the ship and they huddle together wretched and shivering. The raiders seem not to feel the wind and the wet, and they bustle about the ship as if the monks aren't there. The sacred numbers don't work out: there are too many of them, and they are profane anyhow. The Gospels are pressed up against his skin, under the heavy cloth of robe and gown, and the leather of the book is warm against him. 

He thinks of the monks in Ireland who set off in coracles to learn where God and His currents would take them. Is he supposed to surrender himself to the will of God and let the northmen take him over the sea? Is that why he was spared? Athelstan braces himself against the mast and Brother Cenwulf's firm shoulders and, finally, lets his exhaustion and fear drag him into sleep. The ship rocks around him like a cradle. 

When he wakes from nightares ( _his brothers screaming in the distance, while he sat hidden and helpless to save them_ ) the sky is black and the boat is silent but for the slapping of oars against the waves and the wind rustling in the rigging. He tips his head back against the mast and watches his breath fog in the air in front of him. The Milky Way is stretched like a great pillar across the vault of the sky. The stars are bright but even so it shines like silver in the dark. 

Saint Brendan in his travels had come across a pillar covered in silver netting that rose out of the ocean, and Athelstan wonders if he was describing the Milky Way. He gazes for a long time at the hugeness of the night sky. The innumerable stars seem to Athelstan to be a sign of God's greatness and His glory. 

Brother Cenwulf gives a sudden hacking cough that brings Athelstan back to the real world. His mouth is painfully dry and his feet are swollen with cold. The man who saved his life is watching him intently, his face limned by starlight and his eyes gleaming in the semi-darkness. They stare at each other for a long moment, and then Brother Cenwulf convulses beside him. 

The raider stands up, graceful despite the rocking boat, and picks his way across the deck around heaps of gold and sleeping men. It barely takes him three strides to reach Athelstan. He thrusts a bladder into Athelstan's hands. The water is the sweetest thing Athelstan has ever tasted and he drinks gratefully. He forces himself to stop drinking after the first few mouthfuls, and holds the bladder out to Cenwulf. When Cenwulf takes the bladder in shaking hands, the raider turns and goes back to his seat, speaking quietly to the men he passes. 

Athelstan pulls his hood up against the hissing wind, fumbling awkwardly with his tied hands, and listens to the voices of his brothers in the dark. _De profundis clamavi ad te domine, domine exuadi vocem meam. Fiant aures..._

Saint Brendan and his brothers had passed safely through strange lands and dangerous seas protected by the hand of the Lord. Athelstan grasps the cross at his breast with numb fingers and begins to pray with his brothers. 

_Et ipse redimet israel ex omnibus iniquitatibus eius._


End file.
